Furniture top construction and corner cap therefor



F. F. BRAUN 2,228,504

FURNITURE TOP CONSTRUCTION AND CORNER CAP THEREFOR Jan. 14, 1941.

Filed Jan. 5, 1959 l "lf2/ Il. I

Il i: 1. i,

Www/MQW ATTORNEY@ Patented Jan. 14, 1941 UNITED ySTATES VFURNITURE TOF CONSTRUCTION AND CORNER CAP THEREFOR Francis F. Braun, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The Globe-Wernicke Company, Norwood, Ohio,

-a corporation of Ohio vApplication January 5, 1939, Serial No. 249,477

3 claims.

This invention relates to furniture top construction such, for example, as is desirable in connection with at top desks and the like, and to a corner cap construction used in connection '5 therewith. Itis desirable in many cases, in connection with various articles of furniture, to provide rounded corners and rounded edges of ccnsiderableradius. It is diflicult to achieve such a configuration when the top member as of a desk, for example, is `formed from plywood or the like, with a covering lof linoleum or similar material. Linoleum cannot be formed at the corners to have a rounded spherical surface and therefore means must be provided forfinishing the'corners.

' Likewise, a `binding of some sort must be provided for holding the linoleum or the like covering material rmly in place. As far as I am aware, no construction i-s Aat present available by which such a configuration may be achieved in a satisfactory manner.

It is, therefore, an object of my-invention to provide a novel desk top or furniture top construction. It is another object of my invention to provide a corner cap element of novel construction which serves not only to finish the corner elements but also to assist in holding the linoleum or like covering material firmly in place. It is another object of my invention to provide a novel binding strip to assist in holding the covering material in place and to conceal the joints between the top and sides of an article of furniture. Further objects of my invention include the provision of a construction above outlined which is extremely simple and which accomplishes its purpose in an elcient, neat and inexpensive manner.

These and other objects of my invention which will be described in more detail hereinafter or which will appear to one skilled in the art upon 40 reading these specifications I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is now made to the drawing forming a part hereof and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of a flat top desk embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view of the 50 corner construction in plan with parts broken away to show the construction.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional View taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional View taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of a corner cap used in connection with my invention.

Briey, in the practice of my invention, I provide a top element which may be made from plywood `or any equivalent material and Which-preferably has been surface treated for protection against moisture, Warpage and the like. This top member may be of generally rectangular shape as shown `in Fig. 1 and the edges and corners are rounded smoothly. In the drawing, the base is indicated rat I0 and `as most clearly shown in Fig. 5 v:a hole Il is drilled angularly therethrough at each 'of the lcorners and the hole is countersunk at the outer end as indicated at I2 and counterbored -at the inner end as at I3 for purposes to be described in more detail hereinafter. The covering material which may be linoleum, or the like, is indicated at I4. This material is likewise generally of rectangular shape and of dimensions to extend down over the curved edge portions to the entire depth of the base member at the four edges. This material is cut away as indicated at Ida (Fig. 3), at the four corners.

In order to hold the covering material I4 in place and for the purpose of giving a finished appearance to the corners thereof, I provide a corner cap member indicated in Fig. 6. This member generally indicated at I5 comprises a portion which corresponds to a quadrant of a hemisphere and is provided along its base with an OIT-set flange I 6. The flange I6 is preferably drilled .as-shown at I1. A bolt or machine screw, or the like, indicated at I8 is welded or otherwise fastened to the inside or concave face of the member I5. The respective members I5 are assembled at the corners of the top as shown most clearly in Fig. 5 with the member I8 extending through the hole II. The flange portion 16 is screwed fto the base I0 by means Aof the screws I9 and then a washer 2U is slipped over the member I-8 .and the assembly is tightened by means of a nut 2 I. It will be clear from a consideration of Fig. 5 that the tightening of the nut 2I causes the portion of the cap member I5, indicated at 22 of Fig. 5, to bear against the covering material I4 to clamp the same against the base Ill. It will also be noted that the ange I6 is off-set an amount substantially equal to the thickness of the covering material I4.

Inv order to bind down the edges of the linoleum, or other covering material I4 along the four sides of the top member, I provide the generally T-shaped finishing strip indicated generally at 23. It will be noted that this strip has a major portion and a portion 24 bent at a right angle thereto and a reversely bent portion 25 terminating in a downwardly turned lip 26. The strips 23 are fastened along the four sides of the base member l0 by means of screws 21. It will be noted that by virtue of the downwardly turned lip 26 the portion 25 is caused to bear firmly against the covering material I4 as best seen in Fig. 4.

It will be clear that various modications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. The materials outlined do not form any limitation upon my invention; likewise although the particular 4article of furniture in connection with which' I have illustrated my invention is a flat top desk, it will be clear that the invention is applicable to any type of furniture having a flat top member. AI, therefore, do not intend to limit myself in any way except as pointed out in the claims as follows.

Having now fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: p

1. In combination with abase piece constituting the top of an article of furniture, and a piece of covering material, the corners of said base piece being rounded and said covering material beingcut away at its corners; a corner cap shaped to the curvature o-f a corner and fastened along the bottom of the edge of said base piece at a corner, said corner cap being of a size to overlap a cut-away portion of said covering material, and means disposed at an angle to the horizontalI of over for drawing said corner cap down tightly to clamp said covering material.

2. In combination with a base piece constituting the top of an article of furniture, and a piece of covering material, the corners of said base piece being rounded and said covering material being cut away at its corners; a corner cap shaped to the curvature of a corner and fastened along the bottom ofthe edge of said base piece at a corner, said corner cap being of a size to overlap a cut-away portion of said covering material, and means for drawing said corner cap down tightly to clamp said covering material, said means comprising a fastening element fixed to the concave face of said corner capand projecting downwardly in agenerally radial direction at an angle less than 45 from the vertical, a perforation in said base piece, said fastening element passing through said perforation, and a cooperating fastening element for coacting with said-rst mentioned fastening element.

3. In combination with a base piece constituting the top of an article of furniture, and a piece of covering material, the corners of said base piece being rounded and said covering material being cut away atits corners; corner caps shaped to the curvature of said corners and fastened along the bottom of the edge of said base piece, said corner caps being of a size to overlap said cut-away portions of said'covering material, means for drawing said corner caps down tightly to clamp said covering material, and finishing strips comprising pieces of T section fastened to the bottom of said base piece, one of the arms of said T extending downwardly and having an inturned lip to bear against said article of furniture,lwhereby the other arm of said T clamps against said covering material to hold the same firmly in place.

FRANCIS F. BRAUN. 

